Syracuse University Libraries will be hosting a joint Welcome Fest from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Held on the first floor of E.S. Bird Library, the event will focus on the services and resources available to students and faculty, according to an SU News release.

One of the newest features of Bird Library is the Blackstone LaunchPad, a workshop and office space meant to encourage and assist students interested in pursuing entrepreneurship.

“Syracuse University is a really rich innovation ecosystem,” said Linda Hartsock, LaunchPad’s executive director.

LaunchPad has been making concerted efforts to reach out to freshmen in particular, Hartsock said. A representative has appeared at every welcome event held on campus so far.

“We’re on a drive to get students to sign up for this,” Hartsock said. “Our goal is to get 10 percent of the student population at SU.”

Also present at the Welcome Fest will be representatives of Sound Beat, a radio program produced within the library.

The program primarily features recordings from the library audio archives, interlaced with historical information and commentary, said Jim O’Connor, Sound Beat’s producer, in an email.

“It seems like there’s going to be a big turnout this year,” O’Connor said.

Sound Beat hopes to draw interest in their internship opportunities, as well as the upcoming Sound Beat Class Partnership, O’Connor said. The program will pair subject librarians with students to produce scripts for the show, O’Connor added.

“What’s most exciting about this year … is how many more partners we’ve pulled in,” said Lesley Pease, the event coordinator. “We’ve expanded not just to the usual players, but out into the community more.”

A representative from a Syracuse public library will be appearing at the event as well, in an effort to get SU students to explore all possible academic resources available to them in the larger Syracuse community, Pease said.

Students at the event will also be able to meet and speak with representatives of the Department of Public Safety and Syracuse public transportation.

This event will be unique from the library’s attempts in the past, in terms of being more interactive and hoping to draw larger interest from the student body, Pease said.

The event will have food, drinks, prizes and an appearance from a group of campus therapy dogs, Pease said.

“It used to be that things ramped up slowly in the fall, and now the first week is as busy as the middle of the year,” said Pease. “This is everybody’s library.”

Published on August 31, 2016 at 9:07 pm

Contact Bridget: blmcalli@syr.edu